KAROSHI

Second album from this American instrumental electronic rock quartet. In a similar style to the debut but more interesting and slightly more adventurous overall. The drumming is better and the keyboard sounds are more diverse. The guitars (especially the bass) are more noticeable and prominent than before. One thing there is less of here is the vocal samples, but they are not totally gone. This is still '90s style rhythm-heavy, electronic-oriented "post-rock" but the music here would be of more interest to proggers in general than the first album.

"Strong Holder" is a great way to open the album, being fast-paced and energenic. There is some nice sustained wailing guitar notes throughout the piece. The track is built around a busy drum pattern and keyboard sounds going back and forth. Great organ soloing here. "The Companion" opens with looped glockenspiel or something similar. The music starts off playful and child-like but then turns into something more dramatic and suspenseful. The main keyboard melody keeps your attention.

"Thomas Jefferson Airplane" is a hard-hitting piece of music with some interesting percussion parts. Love the spacey synth in the middle. After that part it gets stereotypical 'prog' sounding for a moment. "Monterey Days / Malibu Nights" is another hard-hitting track. Sounds like everything except the drums are done on keyboards. Great interplay between those keyboards though. "Dull Normal" is a very (synth)bass heavy track. Love the dub-y echoed snare drum. Great piece of IDM-inspired "post-rock".

"Taco Muerte" has samples of someone talking in Spanish (I know, weird right?). The music is some kind of reggae-waltz until some ethereal keyboards show up, then it becomes some sort of New Age Trip-Hop. More dissonant keys show up later (or is that guitar?). "Craters Of The National Moon" is a very electronic piece that is also equal parts spacey and avant. The title track starts off based around a tribal-like drum pattern and droning synth. It develops into a vaguely Middle-Eastern sounding part as the drumming gets more loose and varied with lots of fills. Dies down at the end.

This would be their last album for a few years before making just one more. All three of their albums have something to offer, but Karoshi is the more consistent and the most 'proggy'. Maybe not all killer but very little filler. A solid 4 stars.

I have a weak spot for music that is carried through by a pretty straight repetitive rhythm, not totally monotonous but with some subtle dynamics as can be delivered by a human drummer only, but one who has learnt a thing or two from the machines.

Karoshi by Salaryman is driving beat, fairly monotonous dark electronic sounding bass, simple but effective micromelodies from the keyboards and a collection of samples and sounds on top of that. Nothing for the prog fan who looks for complex chords and composition, time signature changes, abrupt contrasts and changes within a song.

So what's great about it? I love its strong rhythmic spine, forward forward, physical and unstoppable and in nice contrast to the more electronic further proceedings. And then how they put the elements and sounds together; perfect teamwork making for some moments that install themselves in my inner ear, unnoticed at first and even later I often wasn't sure where the snippet came from that was turning around in my head on the train, looking at the landscape, or whenever moving from one place to the other, until I listen to this album again and recognize how the on their own rather harmless and unremarkable ingredients come together to make the perfectly tasteful atmospheric moment. The sophisticated sound arrangement can compensate perfectly for the (intended) simplicity of the melodic and harmonic side of composition. Some of this is pure magic, such as the relentlessly elegant "My Hands Are Always in Water", "Graze the Umbra" where the micromelody works best, "My Dog Has Fleas" with a glorious chorus in the middle of flimsiness, the dark "Karoshi" that builds up to its powerful climax as the best of post rock, the slim, compact and sparkling "Companion"...

This is classified as post rock, which makes sense considering its rejection of a standard rock format as well as of any showing off of complexity or skill. Apart from the post rock pioneers the members have probably listened to Neu! but certainly also to early Pink Floyd and other psychedelic space rock, although in 1999 a band keeping up with its time will deliver more precision, coordination and compactness than in the 1970s.

Regarding speed and intensity there is a good amount of variety, although I have to admit that there's a fine line between the magic and taste that lies in simplicity on one side and unexciting blandness on the other, and very occasionally they steer on the wrong side. Overall solid 4.1 stars.